Cupquelan salmon farm. (Photo: Salmones Cupquelan)

Cupquelan considers merger with Invermar

Following an agreement reached for the acquisition of 54 per cent of the shares of Invertec Pesquera Mar de Chiloé (Invermar) by part of Salmones Cupquelan, both companies are assessing the possibility of merging their businesses, after receiving the approval from minority shareholders.

"When they [Cupquelan] have the shares, they will say what to do with the company and then, as a second step, they would probably, as they have already announced, decide to merge," said Invermar general manager, Andrés Parodi at the final meeting of shareholders of the firm, attended by three representatives of the Superintendency of Securities and Insurance (SVS).

"If they want to do so, they will talk to the other shareholders in such a way so as to obtain the number of votes required to implement a merger," the executive added.

Recently, Cupquelán, which is a subisdiary of the Canadian firm Cooke Aquaculture, agreed to buy 156,153,494 shares of Invermar valued at USD 20 million.

The transaction should take place before 30 April, but according to what was reported by Diario Financiero, the sale depends on the banks to which Invermar owes money, a situation that was criticized by the shareholders.

"There is a chance that the agreement with Cupquelan does not work, banks must give their approval," admitted Parodi.

The Canadian company is negotiating a possible cancellation of 30 per cent of Invermar´s debt, which exceeds USD 150 million, equivalent to about USD 50 million, according to Estrategia.

"It can be possible or not. When we had the loan refinancing in 2009, one of the conditions that the banks requested as part of the guarantees, was that the controlling shareholders pawned their shares, so they are not freely available shares," the executive claimed.

In the loan agreement there are clauses that, in case the control changes, state that their authorization is required," he added. And "unfortunately, Invermar does not participate in that process," Economía y Negocios reported.

Mario Montanari, Invermar CEO, is not concerned about this possible outcome.

"If the agreement with Cupquelan fails, the company does not have problems. We would even be better," he stated.

In this regard, he explained that his company is now in a different situation because salmon prices improved from the time the negotiations began and the purchase price was set.

Related article:

- Salmones Cupquelán acquires 54pc of Invermar

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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